


If You Could Go Anywhere

by axolotlnerd-campcamp (axolotlNerd)



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Celtic Mythology & Folklore, F/F, Fae & Fairies, Fantasy, Gen, Im love, My proudest oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 22:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20033197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotlNerd/pseuds/axolotlnerd-campcamp
Summary: Nikki’s been exploring the woods surrounding her village for as long as she can remember. She knows every animal in the wood, and knows to leave before the sun sets. She has never gotten lost or distracted when the sky begins to darken. That is, until today.





	If You Could Go Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry I've been gone for so long! I'm going through a lil bit of a slump at the moment, mostly because my schedule's gone all out of whack since school got out. But I'm not dead! There's gonna be a bit of a blast of works today, things I posted on Tumblr but forgot to move here, and then after these and then two more one-shots, I'm going to be moving all of my focus onto IYLMDLG's sequel! I also have been working on this super big wing AU, and I would totally love to ramble about it, so send some asks of shoot me a message if you wanna hear me ramble! 
> 
> Thank you so much, and enjoy this innocent lil gay faerie one-shot!

Nikki loved the woods. She  _ loved _ them. They were her favorite thing in the whole world. She loved the leaves and the trees and the grass and the bugs and the bears and the deer and the wolves and all of the other mysterious things she had yet to find in the forest. She loved watching little mushrooms sprout up in the fall, and she loved finding animals drinking by the creek and meeting their eyes and watching as they did not flinch, did not flee at the sight of her.

Every single little thing that she discovered was something more to love. She loved everything about the forest.

So when she stayed late enough that fireflies began to blink in the twilight, she was only drawn further in. She followed the bugs, and they let her hold them in her hand to light the forest floors while she found herself wandering deeper into the woods.

It wasn’t long before she’d been led so deep into the woods, the canopy covered the sky, and she could not see the stars anymore. The fireflies left, wanting to stay with their skyborne family, and Nikki began to think she should turn around.

But it was only a momentary thought, as more lights began to appear underneath her feet, illuminating the path. Small blue mushrooms glowed in the night air, like stars that had fallen to earth but even more beautiful, and with every step she took they pulled her along. She followed them until they began to disappear, and just as they stopped growing along the thin path she began to think herself lost.

But a small light caught her eye, and when she looked she saw a small, flickering blue flame. It called her forward, beckoning her with the glint of it’s light, and led her further into the forest. When she reached it, it moved before she could touch it, pulling her deeper and deeper into the woods.

She reached out again, hoping to touch it, and all of a sudden the light disappeared, bursting into glowing dust.

And then she realized exactly how lost she was.

Nikki could barely even see her hand in front of her face, the light of the moon and stars almost entirely blocked out by the canopy. There was no way she could see the path back home now, and she hadn’t even been to this part of the wood before. There could be a bear or a wolf or something  _ worse _ waiting to attack around any corner, or perhaps even something she’d never seen, something in the forest that she might never be able to explore again-

The snap of bramble put her at attention, looking around to try and find the source of the noise. The small blue creature appeared again, no longer beckoning her but just floating there. When it began to glow lighter, Nikki could see the hands cupped underneath it, holding it like a lantern to the darkness.

It was a girl. A girl about her age, it seemed, but a hundred years wiser. Her skin was a dark rich brown, and deep red coils fell into her electric blue eyes. Freckles created constellations over her nose and under her eyes, and she wore a blue robe. The creature grew lighter again, and suddenly Nikki saw what seemed so off about the girl.

Like the deer at the entrance of the forest, she had antlers, and like jewelry vines and moss wrapped around them, tall and towering over Nikki.

The girl stepped forward hesitantly, and Nikki didn’t move.

“The sun isn’t rising anytime soon, you know.”

She didn’t respond. She was too entranced by the girl holding the small flame. Her ears stuck out, pointed and poised upwards like cat’s. Her eyes were flecked with silver and refracted light like a mosaic, or a broken mirror. And as she looked at Nikki, who stood small and stared up at her, she smiled, her teeth pointed like knives.

_ “Fae,” _ Nikki whispered in shock. She had only ever heard of them in stories, explanations why sometimes people in their village just went missing.  _ Must have stumbled into a faerie circle, _ they’d say. Nikki had never imagined she might be face to face with one.

“Dryad, to be more specific. Nymph.” As she spoke more, stepping closer, Nikki could hear the lisp in her speech. “We’ve got a lot of different names.”

Nikki just stared. She had never seen anything like her, not during all of her time wandering in the woods. She had seen the teeth of the wolves, but they were not nearly as human as her’s. The deer had antlers like her’s, but never did they grow so tall, embraced the flora so insistently. Nothing in the forest had eyes like her’s.

“And you’re a human.” The girl said. Her smile was not malicious as she thought fae typically were, only curious and maybe a little bit smug. She stepped out of the brush and, looking down at Nikki, held out the glowing creature to see her better.

“You’re  _ amazing,” _ Nikki awed, and the girl seemed surprised at her words, her smile fading for a moment.

But then it came back, curious again. “You’re… Weird.” She said with a small laugh. “Most people run when they find fae.”

“What’s your name?” Nikki asked, walking around her to see what other odd traits she might have.

“Call me Nerris. Who are you? And how did you get so far into the woods? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone from outside the forest.”

“Nikki!” She replied cheerily. “I’ve been wandering around the woods a lot, ever since I was a  _ little _ little kid, normally I head home around sunset but then I saw these little star-bugs that lit up so I followed them, and then there were these pretty mushrooms that glowed too, and then  _ that _ thing showed up and brought me here!”

The small blue creature flickered, as if to show it knew it’d been referred to. “The wisps like to do that, just bring people places. You’re lucky it led you here. Some of them aren’t so kind.”

Nikki wanted to ask what she meant, but before she could get a word out, another light appeared. Another small blue flame appeared just behind Nerris, floating and beckoning to Nikki. She walked over, reaching out to it.

“They’re warm,” she whispered, in awe. When her hand got close enough, it bursted into a puff of blue smoke, reappearing down the path.

“They  _ are _ made out of fire.” Nerris said, sarcastically. “They’re called Will-O’-The-Wisps. They like to take people places.”

“Well, let’s follow it!” Nikki said, and grabbed Nerris’ hand to lead her down the path.

Her wisp followed her as she was lead down her forest’s paths, blue light illuminating the thin trails that only the deer had used for so long now. Nikki seemed to know the paths almost as well as Nerris did, despite never having travelled on them before — her time spent in the forest had given her a type of intuition to how the paths moved. The wisp stayed ahead of the pair no matter how fast they moved, still beckoning and daring them to catch up.

Nikki ran as fast as she could, Nerris keeping up with ease, and she occasionally glanced back to make sure she was there. “Where’s it taking us?” Nikki asked.

“I don’t know! They do what they want!” Nerris replied with a smile.

Nikki smiled and sprinted faster, excited to see where they were being led. The forest was thick, brush and heather having gone undisturbed for so long, unused to being moved. As the path went on, it became more rocks than dirt, and the trees began to thin out. 

The wisp continued on, flames flickering and calling her as she raced forwards. She reached out to grab it again, and her fingers brushed it’s flames-

“Wait!” Nerris called, and pulled Nikki back abruptly. The small creature dissipated into a faintly glowing blue smoke, and Nikki looked at where she’d been running.

The rocks dropped off steeply in front of her, starlight lighting the cliffside as it dipped back into the forest below. The trees stretched out for miles ahead of her, the only clearing being the village she lived in so far away now. The blue light of the wisps and the mushrooms and the fireflies dotted the trails within the forest like veins to a heart, and the forest that Nikki loved so much was now stretched in front of her, beckoning to her like the wisps had.

“You should really be more careful-” Nerris started, but was quickly interrupted.

“This is amazing!” Nikki gasped, turning to look at Nerris. Her pink eyes glowed blue in the light of the wisps, bright with wonder. “You get to live here? Always?”

Nerris smiled, opalescent eyes sparkling with pride. “Even better,” she said, standing taller. “I own it.”

Nikki gawked at her, and Nerris laughed.

“See that big sycamore out there?” She said, pointing. “That’s the edge of my land. The clearing in between here and your village is the other edge. If you keep heading in that direction, there’s a big ravine that leads to the ocean.”

“I’ve seen that! We took a trip to the city once, and took a ferry down the river. I got really sick.” She laughed. “I thought dryads only had one tree, or something like that?”

Nerris beamed with pride. “I’m kind of like royalty around here, like a princess! So I get to live in the biggest tree, and I run things in the woods.”

“That’s  _ amazing.” _ Nikki gasped, and looked back out onto the forest.

The crickets took over the silence, the sound of running water in the distance accompanying their song. The breeze made the leaves move in waves, like a sea of green lit up by moonlight, like the forest was just an extension of the wind and bent and swayed the same way it did.

“Your parents must be wondering where you are.” Nerris said, and Nikki shrugged.

“Maybe. I don’t know.” She said, thinking. “I should still probably get home.” 

“I’ll take you there. You’ll get lost.” Nerris said, turning back to the path.

The wisp she held lit the way as they walked through the forest. They saw the same glowing mushrooms Nikki had walked passed on her way to Nerris’ side of the woods, and before long, the fireflies came back into view, too.

When they could see the town from the path, Nerris stopped. Nikki looked back at her when she realized her friend had stopped. 

“You can come in.” She said, smiling.

But Nerris shook her head, the leaves of the vines wrapped around her horns swaying with the motion. “They don’t like fae. If they see me with you, they’ll probably assume you’re a changeling.”

Nikki didn’t know what a changeling was, but couldn’t be bothered to ask. “Can I come back and visit you then?”

Nerris smiled at that. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

Nikki beamed as she ran towards town, waving as she looked over her shoulder. “I’ll see you later then!”

Nerris waved back, and then just like that she was gone, and the blue glow of the forest faded, waiting for her to come back.


End file.
